Fox Valley anti-poverty program finding success one family at a time

St. Katharine Drexel Church

From left, Mary Ann White, Denise Claessens and Frank Gallagher, members of St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Church in Sugar Grove, work during the early stages of the anti-poverty program Hope Takes Action. The program keeps growing and now a second group in Aurora is forming.

From left, Mary Ann White, Denise Claessens and Frank Gallagher, members of St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Church in Sugar Grove, work during the early stages of the anti-poverty program Hope Takes Action. The program keeps growing and now a second group in Aurora is forming. (St. Katharine Drexel Church)

When I caught up with Denise Claessens three years after our last sit-down, she had just finished one of her shifts with the Clothes Closet at Hesed House.

As a long-time volunteer there, as well as with the homeless shelter’s Harvesting Hope program, the 69-year-clinical social worker and retired school administrator has first-hand knowledge of how local agencies help the poor keep roofs over their heads, clothes on their backs and food on their tables.

But even though Claessens believes in these efforts, she’s convinced it’s hand-ups rather than hand-outs that will make an impact on reducing poverty. The real change, she insists, must come from empowering those in need to move out of victim mode.

In the spring of 2015, when we first met, Claessens had just started a first-of-its kind-program in Illinois to do just that. Hope Takes Action is a 16-week workshop to help families move from dependency to self-sufficiency through education and mentoring. Led by a facilitator, these “kitchen table” groups work through a well-established national curriculum that helps participants understand why poverty exists, and develop the necessary skills to negotiate the middle class’s culture that is driven by work, education and the desire to get ahead.

Four people ended up graduating from that pilot program at St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Church in Sugar Grove, including a single mom named Anna who had been living with her kids in the basement of a friend’s home.

Recalling the moment three years ago when she saw a flier at the Aurora library about the new program, Anna says one word stood out.

Struggling financially after a divorce that “left me in shock,” she said on Tuesday, “More than anything I needed a little hope.” And what she got after going through this program was not only that hope but also “the confidence to make that next move.”

Claessens went on to seed similar programs in Naperville, Aurora and, most recently, St. Charles, which had nine graduates. Plans are also in motion for a second Aurora group — a dozen graduated from the first group — that will begin this summer but will kick off with an information meeting at 6 p.m. May 17 at First Presbyterian Church, 325 E. Downer Place. For more information, call 630-697-8602.

There’s no easy fix that helps break a cycle keeping people in poverty. It takes hard work, motivation and commitment. But it also takes people who care. This latest group now forming is looking for facilitators to help run the workshops, as well as mentors to pair up with the participants and offer guidance and support.

Hope Takes Action currently partners with Hesed House, Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry, City of Aurora, St. Vincent de Paul, Community 4:12 and First Presbyterian and St. John United Church of Christ churches. But more involvement from religious, business, civic or nonprofit groups is not only welcome, it’s needed.

The more the community buys into this hand-up concept, insists Claessens, the more successful the people who take part in it will be.

“Those who are poor tend to only associate with others who are poor,” she said. Which is why they likely don’t have the same resources or network that most of us rely on to get through life.

Think about it: When you live in poverty, the only car you can afford to buy is a cheap one, she pointed out. You get a loan from a predatory lender to purchase it, which is hard enough to pay back. But when it breaks down here is no money to get it fixed. So you can’t make it to work, and the boss, if he’s only interested in the bottom line, fires you. And then you are not only out of a car, you are of money and a job.

While giving out food or clothing or stipends to pay a gas bill might keep the proverbial wolf from the door, we are not teaching the poor how to manage the chaos in their lives, Claessens said. And, while it might make most of us in the middle class feel good to “write a check and put it in the basket,” that’s not advocating for the poor in a way that will help them past tomorrow or next week, she said.

“Instead of people just coming out to get more charity, this program helps them understand what they can do to make a difference in their own lives,” she added. “It helps them understand they are good problem-solvers, and that they do have the power over certain things in their lives.”

For Anna, who grew up in a poor household, the program not only taught her more about finances, it helped break down barriers she had built up over race and socio-economic issues.

“Everyone was treated the same,” she said. “I was not looked on as a pity case but as someone who was intelligent …. who was equal. And that did as much as anything to build up my confidence.”

Anna, who works full time at Head Start, now has her own apartment in North Aurora, and her twin daughters are finishing up their first year at Olivet Nazarene University. She’s also making plans to go back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree. And, while money can still be tight at times, “now I know I can do it.”

The program helped “bridge the gap and get us out of that moment of chaos,” said Anna. “I love the fact we are making it work.”